On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:18:20 -0500, Bill T <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


> This suggests that,
>compared to the Western honeybee that has a longer history of domestication,
>selection on the Asiatic honeybee has favored the generation of more
>variable antimicrobial peptides as protection against pathogens."

They also stated:
> It’s puzzling that the Asiatic honeybee does not produce propolis. How does the Asiatic 
honeybee protect the larvae?


I saw this article too, but I thought there were some faulty assumptions in it. First, why do they say 
Asian bees have a shorter history of domestication? Honey bees were "domesticated" long before 
the reach of recorded history, therfore we don't have any way of knowing which was kept first, not 
to mention the bees of tropical America. 

Furthermore, they have never been domesticated in the correct sense, being still essentially wild. 
Finally, their evolutionary history stretches into the millions of years whereas their history of being 
in managed hives is in the hundreds or at most thousands, depending upon how you define 
"management" and the alleged implications of it.

The second statement raised in my mind the further question: does this perhaps point to propolis 
having little effect other than the waterproofing of the hive? Maybe it has far less anti-bacterial 
power than everyone supposes. It obviously lacks the power to prevent foulbrood, a bacterial 
disease, and it fails to repel chalkbrood, sacbrood, and the rest (fungi, viruses, etc.). 

Which brings us right back to the issue of the honey bee immune system. The "front line" of the 
honey bee immune system is house cleaning behaviour. If this is strong in the colony, then 
infections can be kept from developing, much as a degree of cleanliness is essential for human 
health and the prevention of disease.

Incidentally, I have an article coming out in the ABJ soon, perhaps March, on this topic. 

pb

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